Husky offense makes costly cadence change

News-Times, The (Danbury, CT)

Published 8:00 pm, Sunday, October 14, 2007

Coach Randy Edsall
said his team was instructed to use a silent count in order to combat the crowd noise at Scott Stadium but center
Keith Gray
had trouble hearing quarterback
Tyler Lorenzen
's verbal cadence on a first down play with 2:23 left in the game.

"They went on the cadence. I don't know why they switched to the cadence as opposed to the silent count, which we were using," Edsall said Sunday. "We coached them to do the silent count. We never told them to change to a cadence."

Gray, who thought he heard Lorenzen call for the ball, snapped it by his quarterback's head before he was ready, resulting in a 21-yard loss. Gray had another poor snap on the next play from scrimmage, that one resulting in a turnover.

Edsall said he asked his players why they decided to call their own "audible" despite trailing 17-16 with the crowd noise increasing.

"I did ask them about it," Edsall said. "They're kids. There wasn't a great explanation for it."

Lorenzen had just gained 11 yards on successive runs and the Huskies had a first down at the Virginia 44. Edsall said a running play was called from the bench when the botched snap occurred, one that could have been very successful.

"If we just get the snap, we have a running play called," Edsall said. "It has a chance to be a big play for us."

SO, HE'S HEALTHY, RIGHT?: UConn tailback
Donald Brown
injured his left ankle two weeks ago in a win over Akron. Edsall said Thursday that Brown was "ready to go and we'll decide how everything will go on Saturday."

Apparently, the coach's words were more confusing than they first appeared. Brown did not see any action Saturday against Virginia.

"If we felt Donald was ready to go and could contribute in that game, Donald would have been in the game," Edsall said Sunday.

Andre Dixon started in Brown's place and performed rather well, but it appeared the Huskies could have used another option when it came to running in the red zone against the Cavaliers. Edsall defended his decision, saying he consulted Brown before making the final call.

"It's a decision based on how the kid felt and how I sat down and talked with the kid," Edsall said. "He practiced during the week -- I'm not going to tell you how much he practiced, I don't think that's anybody's business but our business. I had a conversation with the young man and I asked the young man how he felt, where he thought he was.

"I've got to find out where he is. Is he 80 percent? Is he 70 percent in his mind? Where does he think he is?" Edsall continued. "And in a game like this, can he make all the cuts and do the things we think he's supposed to do?"

Edsall was asking Brown how the All-Big East second-teamer "felt."

But the question remains, wasn't Brown 100 per-cent healthy?

"I'm not going to go there and answer that," Edsall said.

The coach insisted he wasn't trying to hide anything from the Virginia coaches or his own team's fans.

"It wasn't like it was anything secretive," Edsall said. "He was ready to go and we said we'd determine it on Saturday. We determined that we didn't need to use him this week."

EARLY BIRDS: UConn officials are encouraging fans attending Friday's game to get to Rentschler early. With employees of nearby Pratt & Whitney getting out of work, typical rush hour traffic and the opening of outdoor retail giant Cabela's all occurring simultaneously, there are likely to be travel nightmares.

The East
parking entrance to Rentschler Field on Silver Lane will be open at 3 p.m., five hours before kickoff instead of the normal four.

The Main and Willow street entrances will open at 4 p.m. as usual.

EXTRA POINTS: UConn is still receiving votes in AP poll (seven) as well as the ESPN/
USA Today
poll (seven). ... There were 11 unbeatens in major college football entering the weekend. On Sunday, only six remained. UConn was joined in misery by LSU, Missouri, California and Cincinnati. ... UConn is just 2-6 following a bye since 2002. ... Defensive tackle
Dan Davis
on the Huskies: "We have a good team, whether people believe it or not. We can go out there and compete with whoever we want to compete with. But when we makes mistakes and shoot our-selves in the foot, it kills us."